Christmas haul 2013

I was kinda unsure about doing a Christmas post at all this year as most of my gifts were intentionally non beauty related, but sure a bit of show and tell never hurt anyone. 

My poor mother god bless her hadn't a clue what to get me, so asked me out straight so there were no surprises in that department. That said, as always the presents from my parents were absolutely lovely. I got two dresses, a floor length dress from H&M to wear over Christmas, and a stunning black dress by Scarlett and Jo for Evans (above). The black one is being put up for a family wedding next year, so hopefully it'll give me some added incentive to kick my ass into gear in the new year.

There was a Babyliss curling wand, which I'm absolutely obsessed with. It give my hair beautiful, defined, long lasting curls.

My last little surprise was a gorgeous satchel style bag, I love it, it's very me! I don't know where she got it, I never do, she has a great eye for things like that.

My brother got me a flight case for all my nail gear, which will come in very handy in the new year please god!

The two gifts that really knock me for six, purely because they were so unexpected were the Urban Decay Smoked pallet that I got from my brother's girlfriend (along with a bottle of vodka, wahooo) and a Naked 2 pallet that I got from a very dear friend. To be honest, I haven't really gotten around to playing with either of them yet as I've been too lazy for the last few days to bother with make up, but I can't wait to get stuck in to both of  them.

Christmas was a bit of a weird one this year with my nan passing so close to Christmas itself. We all kinda struggled to find our festive spirit. But thanks to family and some very important people we managed to pull together and pay homage to the woman herself on Christmas eve the only way we know how- A stonking good sing song in the pub on Christmas eve.

I hope everyone had a really lovely few days spent with their nearest and dearest x I'd love to see all your goodies too so feel free to link me on Twitter or just pop a comment on this post and I'll be sure to have a look!

Penney's Haul August 19th

This is my first foray into fashion blogging, so it's gonna be very rough around the edges! Today I headed into town to find some shoes to go with my birthday outfit and ended up picking up a few bargains....but no shoes!!

One of my favourite things is the larger silver necklace. It's almost a dead ringer for this New Look necklace that I have lusted over for months but could never justify the €25 price tag. The main difference is the Penneys version only has 2 dangling chains to the 3 of the New Look version, but it's less than half the price at just €10. An absolute steal.

€10

I also picked up a chunky gold chain for €5. These chains are very hit and miss for me, I've seen some people wearing them looking fabulously stylish, but it just looks tacky on others. It's worth a try for a fiver!

€5

Last little accessory I picked up was a rather sweety little hair clip. You clip it into either side of your hair and it has little chains that drape around your hair.

€3

Now onto clothes! There's not in the way of sales item's floating around (except in the shoes, loads of the Penney's cons for €3). I found this skirt for €5. I love it, it's a colour that will get me well into Autumn/Winter teamed with tights and knitwear.

€5

I also picked up jeggings in a similar colour to the skirt. For me you can't beat Penney's jeggings, they're only €9 and come in a fairly wide variety of colours.

€9

And lastly I treated myself (sheepishly) to an underwear set. Any other big busted ladies will know that Penney's bra's aren't always true to size, but I thought these were so feminine and pretty I couldn't resist! The bra was €8 and the thong was €4 (the pants also come in a lacey short version)

Bra €8, pants €4

Item breakdown-

Silver statement necklace- €10

Gold chunky chain- €5

Skirt- €5

Jeggings- €9

Bra and pants- €12

Total- €41 (€20 of which came off a girt card, wahoo!!)